Emily raised the mic to her mouth. “Garcia. Can you make it back to us? Over.”
“No! No, Emily. We’re infected sister! We can’t go over there, placin’ you in danger and all!” Garcia had started slurring his words slightly, almost as if he was intoxicated.
“How many guys are left in the brigade? Garcia, we just got a message from another group of civilians. They urgently need to be rescued! Can I send you directions to their location? Over.”
“I’m ‘fraid we’re in no shape to rescue nobody, girl. Oh man my head is about to burst. Can’t think straight. Sorry. Shoot those coordinates over, but I doubt any of us is going to be able to do anything for them. Over.”
Emily sent the Willemtown directions to Garcia. Nobody had high hopes that a rescue mission would be launched though. A few other people including Rachel, Bill and John, had silently entered the media room, curious about all the excitement. They hung back and tried to listen in.
“H–hey Emily. Last night I was ordered watch over about ten guys. They gave me a silencer. Didn’t matter. Nobody was sleeping. ‘The fuck do they think? Folks can’t hear a silenced pistol? I had to take out almost all of them, Emily. ... Oh! It’s ok!” He slurred these words badly, sounding more like ‘iz oh kay’.”
Emily sensed his pain. Garcia spoke up before she could say anything comforting though.
“We only had a couple hundred guys left this morning. And most of them were hurting. That Matheson though! The guy was a legend. What a tough dude! He led us out on our final mission today. I wasn’t there to see it, but I guess right after securing the area he stops, puts the gun to his own head, and blows himself away! Guess he was feeling a lot worse than he led on...”
Sensing the pause, Emily spoke up.
“What about Collins and Brown? Over.”
“...” There was no response
“Garcia do you copy? Over.”
“Yeah I’m here. Still here!” Garcia sounded sarcastic.
“Collins. He died a few nights ago.” Emily held the mic to her forehead. Her eyes closed.
“He was hoping to hook up with you, you know!” At this Emily smiled and nodded knowingly.
“At least he got to kiss the girl.” Garcia added. Emily frowned. She had no idea what that meant. Unperturbed, Garcia continued.
“Brown. Man, that guy was a real warrior. He was in the battle today. We were at the airport, trying to clear the damn place. ... Yeah. Brown. That was one badass motherfucker!”
Garcia laughed. He abruptly stopped. “He’s gone, Emily. Gone Elvis, as they say... We lost track of him at the airport.”
Garcia sighed, never releasing the mic. “He’s gone. They’re all gone. ... Even the civvies and dittyboppers. Oh shit, you’re a dittybopper too, aren’t ya... Sorry, no offence! No offence...”
Garcia was slurring his words badly. He sounded very drunk, but Emily doubted that it had anything to do with alcohol. Garcia continued after a short pause.
“Ah where was I. It’s getting harder to concentrate. Oh yeah, what’s left of us. Man, we don’t even have enough healthy guys to shoot the sick guys anymore. ... Oh yeah, the mission. We lost a bunch of guys in today’s battle. There were probably only about a hundred of us left. Some of those went off on their own, and the rest of us had ourselves a last meal.”
“I’m so sorry, Garcia. Is there anything we can do? Over.”
Garcia seemed to recover a bit. The slur dropped from his voice as he continued.
“Naw, we’re good. You guys stay where you’re at. I got no idea how none of you guys are infected, but just about everybody else is! We’ve accounted for ourselves though! I heard that we destroyed millions of them in Operation Liberation!” He said with pride. Although Emily thought that she detected sarcasm as well. Garcia continued after a moment. “But we’re still outnumbered, badly! ... Anyway. No. You guys stay locked up in that school for as long as you can! Stay safe.”
“Ok Garcia. You stay safe, too.” Emily had foregone proper protocol as well. It didn’t matter.
“And Emily...”
“Yes Garcia?”
“Heh. Call me Esteban.” Emily smiled a soft, sad smile.
“Ok, Esteban.”
“You did good, girl. It was an honor serving with you. Oh! And let Moyers know. It wasn’t his fault. I was right beside him when it happened. It wasn’t his fault!”
Several sets of eyes turned to Bill, who had turned very pale. He nodded at Emily. “Ok Esteban. He knows.”
“Ok, good. ... Hey, I think it’s time for me to go, Emily.”
Emily’s eyes welled up. “Are you sure, Esteban?”
“Yeah. ... Sorry Emily. Sorry we couldn’t do more ... Goodbye amiga. Farewell. Adios!”
“Farewell Esteban.” But there was no reply.
The room was silent as Emily placed the mic back in its holder and turned around.
“I guess we can’t depend on the army no more.” Rachel stated. Something in her casual way of saying this rubbed Emily the wrong way.
Emily shot out of her chair with a growl and in three short bounds was at Rachel’s throat. If it weren’t for John and Ethan’s quick reactions, she would have landed a blow on the taller woman.
“Those are my mates you’re talking about, you tosser!”
Rachel was shocked by the vehemence of the English woman’s reaction and had taken a step back. She gathered herself quickly enough though.
“You bitch!” With a wild lunge, she swung at Emily’s head. She missed. “Who do you think you are! Ain’t nobody talk to me like that!” Rachel pushed John, trying to get to the smaller woman.
“Oh, piss off, you Toff!” Emily’s eyes flashed with anger, and she lunged at Rachel again.
“Ladies! LADIES!” John yelled. He was getting hit from both sides in his attempt to break up the fight. Several others stepped in and pulled the two women away from each other.
Joe had stepped into
